New Report Highlights Dangers of Arlington County's Sanctuary Policies

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement released an interim staff report titled, "Arlington County, Virginia: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies." For years, Arlington County has obstructed federal law enforcement with its sanctuary policies. This report includes new, nonpublic documents, data, and testimony obtained by the Committee and Subcommittee that exposes the startling extent to which Arlington County, including its Commonwealth's Attorney, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, actively obstructs the enforcement of federal immigration law and shields foreign national criminals from accountability.

New details in the report reveal how Dehghani-Tafti makes prosecutorial decisions for the purpose of avoiding immigration consequences for some criminal defendants, including:

Prosecutors in Dehghani-Tafti's office are not explicitly prohibited from considering a criminal defendant’s immigration status, regardless of the severity of the crime the foreign national committed. Dehghani-Tafti testified that there are cases in which considering a criminal alien defendant's immigration status is appropriate, which could at least include assault, domestic violence cases, certain cases with child victims, possession of a fake identification document, and certain cases involving disarming a police officer;
Dehghani-Tafti testified that her office's policy is to fashion a resolution, or even shift to a "lateral" charge, for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients charged with Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), so that a DACA recipient does not lose his or her DACA status based on a DWI conviction. This policy ensures that certain foreign nationals are never convicted of DWI in Arlington County, solely due to their status as non-U.S. citizens;
Arlington County treats illegal aliens differently than similarly situated American citizens. Immigration-specific considerations, and the potential for a different prosecutorial outcome based on those immigration considerations, are not available to American citizens charged with similar crimes;
Arlington County prohibits cooperation with ICE even in cases involving felons and terrorists. Arlington County's latest "Trust Policy" prohibits the Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) "from initiating contact with federal immigration authorities" even when ACPD identifies an illegal alien as a violent felon, gang member, human trafficker, or terrorist.

Arlington County has ignored almost every ICE detainer lodged against a criminal alien during the Trump Administration. As Dehghani-Tafti ensures that foreign national criminals are not prosecuted or are under-prosecuted, Arlington County law enforcement officers are forced to release those criminals back into Virginia instead of transferring them to ICE custody. Because of the county's radical sanctuary policies, repeat and dangerous criminals have been released onto the streets.

Democrat' open-borders policies and sanctuary jurisdictions have had devastating consequences for U.S. citizens. Even after the American people resoundingly rejected Democrats' pro-illegal alien policies in November 2024, Democrats across the country reinforced sanctuary policies to ensure that the millions of illegal aliens who entered the U.S. are never removed from the country. Arlington County, Virginia, is just one example of Democrats' efforts to erase national borders and undermine immigration enforcement. Meanwhile, President Trump and House and Senate Republicans continue to work on commonsense solutions to secure the border, enforce federal immigration law, and protect American communities.

Read the full interim staff report here.

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